Running From An Angel
by triggersaurus
Summary: DR/CH/other - Follows 'Rolling Stone' but you don't need to read that if you don't mind picking up a few new characters!
1. Default Chapter

Running From An Angel

**Title:** Running From An Angel  
**Author:** Triggersaurus  
**Genre:** DR/CH/Other  
**Rating:** PG (bad word here and there, like that'll stop you anyway!)  
**Disclaimer:** Most of these characters are mine, keep yer mitts off! But feel free to borrow Doug from my closet, where I like to keep him ;-)  
**Author's Note:** This sort of a follow-up to a previous fic I wrote, called Rolling Stone. It deals with Doug's son he spoke of once in the first season and then we never heard any more about it. I created a lot of characters, and in this fic I continue with them, using plotlines from last time. However, it's not crucial that you read the last story because this has an independent storyline, of sorts. Just expect to have to pick up some characters along the way! If you DO want to read Rolling Stone first, it can be found at [Trig's ER Fic][1] or at [www.fanfiction.net][2]   
**Also: **I have to make the grovelling statement that I haven't done the second half of this story yet. I just started my summer job and I work 8-5 every weekday, so right now I'm a little pushed for time! But I do have it all planned out and hopefully I'll get to writing it very soon. Same goes for Every Street. Sorry.

Running From An Angel – Part One 

Skid was dead to the world when his mom answered the phone to a hoarse-sounding Rob on Saturday morning. After some polite conversation, she put the phone on hold and ran up the stairs to her eldest son's room.  
Skid? SKID! Wake up, Rob's on the phone.  
  
  
Some deep mumbling came from under the heap of covers on the bed and a hand emerged to grab the phone on the bed stand. Angel surveyed her son's room as he grunted into the receiver. The poster of some model in a bikini had come unstuck on one corner and looked like it was about to drop off the wall. Clothes littered the room; a sweat sock balanced precariously on the rim of a miniature basketball hoop, attached to the door of the closet. The only areas of the room untouched by disorder were the computer and the hook on which hung the school baseball team kit. The computer, one of those portable ones, had been a birthday present from Skid's father, no doubt a very expensive present that had rather overshadowed the ballgame tickets and new coat of paint for the truck that Angel and her boyfriend had provided in celebration of Skid completing 18 years on Earth. Skid had been careful not to make his mom feel bad about the obvious cost difference between gifts, and had honestly been overjoyed with the opportunity to see the Cubs against the Cardinals – even if it meant driving for half a day to get there. But the computer was something else – he hadn't been expecting anything besides a card from Doug. They had been writing letters to each other for almost a year since Skid had first tracked him down. That first meeting had been awkward, how do you handle a situation like that without being awkward? When they'd parted, Doug had suggested writing so Skid agreed. When he got home from the trip, far from the satisfaction he thought he'd feel, he felt more mixed up than ever, and it was his mom who had said that one of the best ways to establish how you felt was to write everything down. Never previously gifted in the creative writing department, Skid had some trouble finding the right words for what he felt but once he got going he managed to fill page after page with questions, thoughts and impressions. Before he could consider it too much, he put it all into an envelope and mailed it on impulse. After that he kept up a frequent correspondence with his new-found father and became more settled with the relationship. He told him about growing up in Chicago and Nebraska, about baseball, about the girl he'd been seeing for 6 months, about his brothers. He received letters about Doug's childhood in Kentucky, his fiancé, basketball, his twin daughters and his job. It was as if the awkward barrier between them was dissolving as they learnt more about each other.

Angel snapped out of her trance when Skid suddenly sat upright and spoke in coherent sentences to the phone. Something must have happened, she thought. There wasn't much that could force her son upright and into conversation before about noon at the weekend. Judging from his expression, it wasn't good news either. He hung up the phone, swinging his legs out of the bed, finding a clear space on the crowded floor to stand up in. He rubbed one eye, then his head. Looking up properly, he realised his mom was still there, looking worried.  
Honey? Is something wrong?  
Skid looked around at the floor, locating a pair of blue jeans and putting them on over the boxers he had slept in.  
Yeah. Um. Becka died last night. The funeral's tomorrow.  
Oh. Oh my god. Oh, poor girl. Is Rob okay? And Mandy and Alan? You know, I have a pot roast in the freezer, I should come with you to see them  
No, Mom. I think they just want to, you know, they need sometime to themselves right now. Rob said he has to go out and do some stuff, get arrangements for tomorrow sorted and they need someone to watch the other kids. I said I'd do it.  
He grabbed a shirt from the desk chair, and the baseball cap hanging from a lamp and squeezed past Angel to get out of the room. She followed behind him, one hand clasped to her chest, looking shocked.  
Okay. Skid, please tell them, if there's anything I can do  
Yeah, I will. He swiped his keys from a small table and went out of the front door, letting it slam behind him.  


Becka had been born around the same time that Skid had moved to Nebraska from Chicago. He hadn't known her until she was a year old, when he first became friends with Rob, and he'd never really paid her a vast amount of attention – after all, he had other things on his mind, like girls, and sports teams. But he'd babysat her once in a while, watched her and her siblings with Rob, and taken her out on a few occasions. The day he'd walked in on her getting a chest and back massage to loosen the build up of mucus in her lungs had shocked him. He'd known she had some sort of illness, but not how serious it was. Becka was unlikely to live to her teens.

Standing on the doorstep of the house he felt he had almost lived in too, he noticed it was suddenly in sharp contrast to the warm and busy household he knew. It felt lonely, quiet and cold. For the first time in four years he rang the doorbell instead of going to the backdoor and letting himself in. As he heard footsteps, he grabbed his cap off his head, remembering that it was the polite thing to do. Rob answered the door in crumpled cargo pants and a black t-shirt. He looked like he'd been wearing the same thing for days. He let Skid in silently, taking a jacket from a hook behind the door and putting it on. Faced with his grieving friend, Skid wasn't sure what to do.  
I, uhyou okay?  
I'm fine. I just gotta do some stuff. Mom and Dad are at the hospital or something, he looked around vaguely, the kids are around. I'll be back in a while.  
Before Skid could say anything, the front door has shut and Rob was burning rubber down the street.

Skid looked around and went into the den. The house was definitely very eerie when it was so silent. Normally the TV was on, at least one of Rob's siblings was arguing with another, and the baby would behe had obviously spoken too soon, he though, as a wail split the air in two.

Some months later, Skid got a letter from Doug in response to a request that he'd made in his own pervious letter. He had just got back from ball practice and read the letter after showering, while rubbing his hair dry with a towel. Dumping the towel on the floor, he ran down the staircase, missing steps as he went. Walking into the kitchen, he saw his mom through the window. She was in the yard, grilling something while Bruce hung upside down from the tree house at the back of the yard, talking to one of the kids next door. Holding the letter, he went outside trying to look casual.  
Hey Mom  
Hey! You think I should grill that rack of ribs with these steaks?  
Sure. I got a letter from Doug today.  
Yeah, I saw. How's he doing?  
He's okay. He said this summer is good.  
He did?  
Yup. I can go up for two weeks, and they have a spare room because Kate threw a tantrum and wanted to share with Tess  
Well, that's great.  
Skid grinned and went back inside. Angel flipped a steak and tried to establish how she felt. She was genuinely happy that Skid was getting to know his father, seeing how he'd never really attached to any of the men she'd seen since. But it was also painful seeing the boy she'd brought up by herself getting drawn away. It wasn't that she harboured anger towards Doug – Skid had been an accident, no matter how much she loved him, and any anger she felt had left her shortly after he was born. But now it did feel like he was being taken away, and being given all these benefits that she couldn't always provide. She knew it was stupid to feel that way, and it had made for many a late-night mental battle, but it was the way she felt. Maybe the fact that Skid was going to spend some time with his dad this summer would help her get over it. Another thing she had trouble with was knowing that Doug had two other children now –Skid had twin sisters. That was the strangest thing, and the thing she chastised herself about the most. For after all, here she was herself with two other sons, Skid's brothers. Still, it was something she'd never really thought about before, so it was a surprise when Skid returned, telling her about the twinsShit, the steaks were burning.

On his way to Seattle, shortly after leaving home with a kitbag and backpack on the seat beside, Skid slowed to a halt outside Rob's house. Over the months between Becka's death and now, their friendship had taken a dive. Although Rob never said a word about it, the death of his sister had obviously hit him hard. Skid watched his best friend slide off the rails as he became like a different person. He was angry, liable to hit out at any time. A fight with team-mates had seen him dropped from the basketball team under instruction from the coach to shape up or ship out for good. His grades were plummeting. He went out every weekend, get rat-assed and more often than not Skid would be on call to feed him coffee and take him home. Despite the verbal boundary between them, Skid stuck by in the hope that he'd pull out of it without too much trouble. But a week before the summer break, Rob had lashed out at some fool and ended up punching out an ex-girlfriend who tried to break it up. Skid had seen the whole incident from his locker and went one on one with Rob himself that night. After that they had barely spoken. Until now – Skid was off to Seattle for two weeks and when he left his house all he could think was that the last trip he'd made had been with Rob, before anything went crazy. He wasn't coming to apologise. In fact, he wasn't sure what he was going to say. But he got out and went into the house anyway.

After some stilted, polite conversation with Rob's mom, Skid went into the lounge. Rob was sitting in an armchair, wearing boxers and a Bayside t-shirt with a hole in it, watching some inane kid's TV show. Amy, who was twelve and had a crush on Skid, was also watching.  
Hey Skid, she said, smiling almost ear to ear.  
Hi Amy. Could you, uhI just wanted to talk to Rob.  
Oh. Okay. She left the room looking disappointed, and a heavy silence descended, interrupted only by the blast of the TV set.  
I just came to say bye. Going up to see Doug for a few weeks.  
Rob stayed silent, flicking channels  
I wanted you to know in caseanything happens. Look, here. This is the phone number if you want anything, and I've got my cell too  
He held out a piece of paper with the number on. The channels on the TV kept switching, so Skid put the paper down on the arm of Rob's chair.  
I'll be back in two weeks, he said, and turned and left the room. Saying goodbye to Rob's mom and accepting a packaged-up tin of leftovers – for your dinner – he walked out to the truck, balancing the tin by wedging it on the seat between bags. As he was about to turn the key in the ignition, he saw Rob come running down the driveway. He turned the key anyway, and the engine hummed loudly as Rob reached his window.  
  
Skid nodded at him, then twisted around, putting the truck into reverse and turned into the road, leaving Rob standing in the drive by himself.  


©Triggersaurus 2001

   [1]: http://www.geocities.com/er_trig/triggersfics.html
   [2]: http://www.fanfiction.net/



	2. Running From An Angel, Part Two

Running From An Angel - Running From An Angel - Part Two (see part one for Author's Notes) 

Calling from a pay phone the next morning, Skid gave Doug an ETA of 5pm. He'd spent an uncomfortable night in the back of the truck, wishing he'd accepted the plane ticket Doug had offered. Doug informed him that Tess and Kate were excited about meeting him again, as he and Carol had sat down and explained that Skid was their brother. Skid grinned thinking about that as he hit the Interstate again. These two weeks were going to be great. 

That night, Skid sat on the bed in the bedroom he had been given. He had just hung up the phone to his mom, telling her that he hadn't died in a freak nuclear blast or a five way pile up on the Interstate, and that he had actually arrived safely with no cause for alarm. He looked around the room. The walls were painted a light yellow colour with the alphabet painted around the top, and glow in the dark stars stuck to the ceiling. One wall was taken up with some sort of multi-storage system that had a closet in the middle, a small desk to the left and loads of shelves on the right. Children's books filled the shelves as well as stuffed animals, Disney videos and a doll's house. A framed cartoon of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves decorated the far wall, and big windows by the bed made the room airy and peaceful. Okay, so it wasn't exactly the kind of room for a guy, as Doug had jokingly pointed out, but Skid didn't mind too much. Tess had drawn a picture of a baseball player for him, so he'd stuck it up on the wall behind the bed and it made the room seem a bit more like his own. As he was changing into some cleaner jeans for dinner, he heard voices downstairs.

I'm just not sure I'd feel happy about leaving them in his care.

He's a responsible kid, Carol. And they love him already.

I'm not saying he isn't capapble, I just don't think I want to leave them with someone I don't know.

Someone sighed, and there was the sound of what could have been cutlery.

Look, we've got a week. We don't need to decide this now. Besides, we're presuming he wants to spend his summer watching a couple of kids.

The conversation faded as they moved somewhere else downstairs. Zipping his jeans, Skid picked up a shoe and put it on. He was just looking for the other one when the door crashed open and something flew onto the bed at high speed, bouncing to a stop.

Hey Kate. Skid was beginning to feel really thankful for Carol's decision to dress the twins in different clothes so he could tell them apart. Kate, in blue dungarees and sneakers, thrust a piece of slightly crumpled paper towards him whilst rearranging herself into a sitting position, feet sticking off the side of the bed next to him.

Another picture, huh? Cool. Is that me? He pointed at a stick figure in the drawing.

Yeah. And that's your car.

It's a great drawingbut my truck is red, not yellow.

My red crayon broke. And yellow is a nice colour – don't you like yellow?

It's okay. I'm gonna stick this up here next to your sister's picture, okay?

she beamed, then jumped off the bed and grabbed his hand, pulling hard.

It's time for dinner now, come on, you have to wash your paws

Letting himself be dragged out of the room, Skid questioned, 

That's what Daddy says. You don't wanna get germs in your food so you have to wash your paws'.

Ah. Okay then.

Before Kate could continue her personal hygiene lecture, she ran into Carol who had come up the stairs.

I see Kate has you in her command already!  
Yeah. She seems veryhealth conscious.

He would have said more, but the weight on the end of his arm was protesting and trying to yank his shoulder out, so being the polite guest he gave in and followed Kate into the bathroom.

The joyful cheer filled the air as Skid sat down at the table. Only when Doug put down a plate of spaghetti bolognaise in front of him did he make the connection between what the twins were saying and what was for supper. And the spaghetti, pasketti, whatever, smelt really good. He pointed this out to Carol, as she served herself and chopped up the pasta for Tess at the same time.

Ah, I'm not much of a cook.

Taking a forkful, Skid shook his head and swallowed.

Well it's pretty good for someone who isn't much of a cook.

Thanks. Kate, here, take a napkin. She smiled and took a bite herself.

Spaghetti was the first thing I learnt to cook, Doug said, winding the pasta around his fork, Home ec. class. My mom took one bite and threw the rest out – the meat was still raw. He grinned and Carol and Skid laughed.

We had to make these scones in fourth grade, and we were meant to put some cheese on top and grill it so it melted. But I forgot mine were under the grill and they caught fire

I've been in a fire!

All heads turned to Kate – tomato sauce from the bolognaise smeared around her mouth and a strand of spaghetti dropping off her fork into her lap as she spoke.

Kate honey, that was a fire drill. Not a real fire. Carol wiped Kate's face, explaining, The kindergarten had a fire drill a few weeks ago.

The conversation slowed as everyone ate. As everyone was finishing up, Doug looked at Skid.

Hey, I was thinking. How about you and me take the boat out later? He chased the last bit of meat around his plate with a fork.

A little surprised, Skid raised his eyebrows.

Can I come?

Sorry Tess. Boys only today. Doug pointed his fork at her as he got up to clear his plate, But we'll go out later in the week, okay?

Tess smiled and followed him into the kitchen with her plate. Carol got up with hers, and went to pick up Skid's.

No, that's okay. He picked his own plate up, pushing his chair back.

No, let me!

Skid smiled in a lopsided fashion, stepping towards the kitchen. Only if you'll let me help wash up.

Good grief' thought Carol. She knew that look better than almost anything in the world. Except she never expected it to be tacked onto a request to do the washing up. She smiled back.

Okay, but you'll probably regret it!

Sure enough, a short while later, holding a damp dishcloth, Skid did remember that he really hated drying up. But he felt okay about it because he really wanted Carol to like him. He felt a little like he'd stampeded her nice, settled life and so a few reparations were in order. She seemed really great and so far they'd gotton on fine –he wanted it to stay that way.

You're form Chicago too, right?

Yup. My mom still lives there – I used to work in the same hospital as Doug.

Yeah, he said.

Skid looked at the dish he was drying with a grin, he said you came running out here to be with him, that you just dropped everything like that. That takes some guts.

Carol smiled, squeezing some more soap into the water.

I don't know about guts. I just got to this point where I knew I had to be with Doug and that it was more important than anything else.

She shot him a look, one eyebrow raised and a smirk on her face.

No, I mean it! Skid tried to justify himself. A loud crash, some quealing and a deep voice filtered down the stairs.

What was that?

Carol tipped out the water and took her rubber gloves off, leaning against the worktop smiling.

I think that's Doug playing monster to get the girls out of the bath. They're never going to go to sleep if he gets them worked up!

Several crashes, some more squealing, and a thump later, Doug emerged on the stairs with a squirming child under each arm and water splashes all over his shirt. Putting them down in the lounge, he said, Now, who's for a bedtime story?

said Tess, bouncing up and down on the couch in short grey pyjamas.

I am, I am! said Kate at the same time, rolling head over heels onto an armchair, wearing similar PJs. 

Hey, I'll read to them if that's okay? Skid asked, coming into the room followed by Carol.

Taken aback, Doug rubbed the back of his head.

I, uh, sure! Girls, how about that? You want Skid to read to you tonight?

No one seemed to have any problem with that. Skid cut across the room.

So, what book do you want? Sitting down in the middle of the couch, Tess produced a giant volume of fairy stories, pointing to Cinderella and moving closer. Kate bounced over, coming to a standing halt next to Skid's shoulder before flinging her legs in the air so she landed with a bump.

Alright. Once upon a time there were three sisters

Carol joined Doug, standing a little way away from the couch, watching them. He put an arm around her, kissing her forehead and then pulling his wet shirt away from his skin, grimacing a bit. Carol smiled contentedly, then looked up at him.

He's really good with them, she whispered.

I know, he whispered back.

Reminds me of someone. She rested her head against his side.

Some minutes later, Skid shut the book loudly. Carol, now standing by herself after Doug went to change his shirt and check the boat, looked at the three of them. As Skid had been reading, the twins had calmed down and got progressively closer to him, as they were apt to at this hour. Tess had pushed her head up under Skid's arm to see the pictures, so that his arm rested around her. Kate was leaning against his right hand side with her thumb in her mouth. It made quite a picture – it was clear that even though they had only known of their brother for less than a month, there was a bond. Carol blinked and checked her watch, realising that it could well be that she was over-dramatising. It was, after all, late for the girls and they probably would have collapsed on the nearest body irrespective.

she announced over the back of the couch. Despite the hour, Tess and Kate managed a short protest before being hustled up the stairs. On the staircase, Carol turned back to Skid.

Thanks. You have a way with them.

Yeah. They're great kids.

She carried on up the stairs. For a few moments, Skid sat lost in thought. He couldn't help but remember reading to Becka once. He missed her more than he would have thought, and now he knew his own sisters, he wanted to make sure he always made the effort with them. It's not every day you can maybe gain something you lost. Snapping out of it, he stood up and went to a window. At the decking, Doug was doing something with ropes, and Skid followed him outside to see what was going on.

Skid walked up to the jetty, hands in his pockets.

Hi. Can you pass me thatthanks. Alright, here we go. Hop in.

Climbing gingerly into the little boat, feeling it rock under his feet, Skid wondered if he should have mentioned to his mom that he wanted to be cremated.

Here ya go, put this on. Doug dropped a life jacket into his lap, which Skid put on with relief. Sitting down, Doug pulled at the chain of the seaboard motor a couple of times before it caught and pushed the boat off at a steady pace.

Don't look so nervous, I've done this before, Doug grinned.

Uh huh, Skid looked around at the all-consuming water, the house on the bay, the trees in the distance, but I haven't.

Doug ticked his head to one side. First time on a boat?

Yeah. Well, one this small anyway.

Doug nodded and looked off into the distance where the sun was falling behind the light clouds, dappling the sky with deep pink and orange.

The girls really like you. You're a pro with them. He smiled at his son.

They're cool. It's nice to have sisters. Barney and Bruno would never stay still long enough to listen, and they're kinda old for that now anyway.

Well, you'd never know it. Sounds like you've read quite a few bedtime stories before. First time I had to do it, I skipped pages by accident. And I'm normally okay with that kind of stuff!

Yeah, I readused to read to my buddy's little sister sometimes when I was babysitting.

Just doing Rob a favour – he's got like, a million brothers and sisters and sometimes he just needs a break ya know?

Sure. You're a good friend to him. Hey look while we're on the topic, I gotta ask you something on behalf of me and Carol because we found out today that we've got some shift collisions with work next week. Normally the kids would just stay at their nursery for the afternoon session, but

You want me to watch them next week?

We were wondering if you'd consider it – it'd just be a few hours here and there while we finish or start shifts, the crossover time.

That's cool. No, really, I don't mind. I'll do it.

You will? Well that's great. Thanks a lot, buddy.

No problem. Actually, I kinda wanted to ask you something too.

Doug looked at him questioningly.

I was thinking it'd be really cool if you'd let me build Kate and Tess a tree house. I saw this great tree for it, right in the yard, and I really, really want to do something for them. I helped my mom's boyfriend build one for my brothers, it's easy

Doug grinned broadly at him. They'd love that!

Are you sure? I mean, it's not really a girl thing is it?

No, they really would. They're too young to care about that stuff anyway and, you know, equal opportunities all that crap now. I'm not letting my girls grow up thinking they have to behave in a certain way.

Apart from behaving in a good way, of course, Skid said, smiling.

Doug chuckled. Yeah, I don't plan on raising criminals, but you know what I mean. I don't want them restricted by their sex. Anyway, how about you an me go down to the hardware store tomorrow, get some wood, we'll have it up in no time.

There was a brief gap in the conversation as they looked at the surrounding area, and Skid leaned over, letting water run over his fingers as they glided over the surface of the lake.

So, in between babysitting and tree house building, how's the baseball going? 

Ah, you know. It's okay. Out team is pretty much middle of the league. I got a scholarship offer from Lincoln.

You did?

Uh huh. But I kinda want to go to the University of Illinoisback to Chicago. They have a really great engineering department.

Yeah? But turning down a baseball scholarship?!

Skid shrugged.

You gonna play varsity at Chicago then?

Well I'm gonna try!

Okay, I'll let you go then. Doug grinned.

Do you miss Chicago? Skid studied his father.

Ahh, I don't know. I don't miss the weather!

No, I mean, you were there for ages right? And then you just suddenly left?

Yeah, well I pretty much needed the clean break, but yeah I suppose I miss it sometimes.

I really like it there. I went back about a month ago, with Rob, he threw a bit of lint from the floor of the boat out into the water, because he had a basketball match in the interstate tournament. Took Cody too. Had a blast.

Doug nodded. You still dating Cody?

Yeah, kinda. She's working away this summer at camp in Dakota. The relationship's on hold, so to speak. Same with Rob, but not that kind of relationship, y'know?

Doug had previously been concentrating on steering the boat around in a loop to head back to the jetty. You got problems with Rob? Thought you guys were best buddies?

We wereI guess we are, but Rob's a little screwed up now. Remember one of his sisters had that thing with the fluid in her lungs?

Cystic fibrosis, yeah.

Yeah, that. Well, she died a few months ago – she was the one I used to babysit sometimes.

Doug nodded. I'm sorry.

Skid shrugged. Ever since then, Rob's been all messed up. He's been thrown off the basketball team and getting drunk, and he decked a girl a week ago. I got so angry about that, everyone knows you don't hit girls and he didn't even give a shit, and I went around to his house that night to bawl him out about itactually, I gave him a black eye, but anyway we haven't really been speaking much since. I don't know what his problem is any more.

Well, you know, Doug looked out over the lake to the horizon, then back at Skid, people deal with death in different ways. Maybe that's his way of grieving.

Well it's a stupid way. He's ruining his life. Why can't he just cry or something, like everyone else? I mean, it's not like I knew Becka very well or anything, but I felt like crying when I heard.

But you didn't, right? Doug looked at Skid, who didn't acknowledge this. Doug grunted and looked away, one corner of his mouth turned up, not in a smile but in an unreadable expression.

When I was sixteen, I had this dog, okay, I know it's not the same but just hear me out. I had this dog called Ray, after my dad. Had him since I was five, my dad had bought him for me on one of his trips, he was a cross between, oh I don't know, a German Shepard and some sort of retriever. And anyway, Ray got old and when I was sixteen, he got hit by a truck and died. I felt lousy and I felt like crying, because that dog was pretty much a substitute father half the time. He looked at Skid hard, then away into the distance. But I didn't. Because I was the man, y'know. You're not meant to cry over dogs dying, you gotta be the strong one. All I'm saying is, Rob's probably feeling like he doesn't know how to deal with this, he doesn't know what to do and he's gotta vent somehow. He'll come round eventually. Trust me, okay? Okay?

'Kay. It's just difficult.

I know.

Doug cut the motor and they glided into the spot by the jetty. Gesturing at the deck and holding out a length of rope, he said, Jump out there and loop this around the pole. Then we won't lose the boat in the night.

Skid took the offered rope and climbed out, wrapping the strong fibres around the end of the pier. He shook the life jacket off as Doug joined him, dropping it back into the boat. They walked back to the house, stopping to look at a tree Skid pointed out.

©Triggersaurus 2001


	3. Running From An Angel, Part Three

Running From An Angel,

**Running From An Angel, Part Three (see Part One for info)**

  
----------------  
  
Doug and Skid made the trip to the hardware store the next morning, joined by Tess who had pleaded to come. They bought wood, nails, screws, and a toolbox as Doug explained he had never really got around to buying one before. After they got home and ate lunch, work started on the treehouse project and before nightfall there was a solid base erected in the giant oak tree, held up by a framework of supports. Nailed to a branch was a piece of paper, now slightly creased, on which were several plan drawings of what they were building. As the darkness took its place around the house, they sat down to a late supper of take-out pizza. There were some disagreements about the toppings, and bits of mushroom, spicy beef and red pepper made their way around the room as they were passed from pizza to pizza. Skid found it a very novel way to eat, but fun at the same time. Especially Kate's reaction to finding a piece of, God forbid, pineapple on her slice and lobbing it across the table. Doug had been about to tell her off for it, had it not landed right in his glass of water.  
  
Skid didn't read to the girls that night, instead choosing to draw up some more plans for the treehouse and explaining them to Carol. She seemed very impressed, and also offered ideas once in a while - like the one for a small table built into the house. In the meantime, Doug put his daughters to bed and dug out a small photo album. He joined Carol and Skid back in the den, holding the red plasticky book. That evening passed with pictures and stories of growing up. As they all began to climb the stairs to bed later on, Doug touched Skid's arm and held him back a moment as Carol disappeared on the landing.   
"Skid. I know I've never said this before, but I just wanted to let you know I never wanted to be a lousy father and I am sorry I was."   
Unsure what to say, Skid started, "No, it's okay..."  
"It's not okay. It's unforgivable. I have fought to the opposite of my own father for years but I still screwed up. I'm trying to make it up to you now. You know I'm always going to be here now, don't you? I'm not running away from this, or you, anymore."  
"Doug...I never thought you were a bad father...well, maybe that's not true, but I didn't know you then. You were just some guy who didn't want a kid at that time in his life. But now I do know you, and I'd prefer to have you as a father now you're happy than to have had you when you didn't want me in the first place."  
Doug, about to say something else, stopped. Smiling with one side of his mouth he reached out and touched the top of Skid's head, as if to tousle it, then said "You're a smart kid, you know that?"  
Skid grinned back, and turned, heading up the stairs and to his bed.  
  
The rest of the week went by in a whirl. Doug had returned on Wednesday evening from an emergency home visit, and failing to find everyone else in the house, he discovered them in the garden - the twins playing some game with a skipping rope, Carol in a sun lounger and Skid up the tree trying to work out what sort of roof to build. Before anyone could notice he was there, he stopped and said loudly, "Who feels like a holiday?"  
Carol jumped slightly and turned around, and the twins stopped jumping and ran to him. Skid crawled to the edge of the wood and climbed down a rope ladder to the ground.  
"What do you mean, holiday, Doug?"  
"Just a break for a couple of days. Go down to the beach, get some rays..."  
The girls were already jumping up and down after hearing the word 'beach'. Picking Tess up and walking heavily over to the other sun lounger with Kate balanced on his left foot, he smiled at Carol.  
"C'mon."  
She broke a smile back at him. "I'd love to. Skid?"  
Now having made his descent, Skid wandered over, feeling a little like he didn't want to interrupt this family moment for them. Doug turned around to see him.  
"How'd you feel about coming away with us for a few days, just down the coast a bit?"  
Previously thinking that this was a plan for after he had gone home, Skid felt a little stupid, and only nodded in response until Kate leapt from Doug's foot to clamp herself onto Skid's leg, singing something along the lines of "Skid's coming tooo-oooo!". That forced a grin out of him and he said "I'd love to."  
"Well, that settles it then. Good job I booked the place this morning!"  
Carol whacked him lightly on the arm. "You booked and presumed we'd say yes?"  
"Well, I was right wasn't I?!"  
She leant over and kissed him softly.  
  
They spent the Thursday, Friday and Saturday in a small house on a beach in Northern California. The fact that it was on a long, sandy beach compensated for the fact that Skid had to share a room with Tess and Kate. He wrote postacards home, one each for his mom and his two brothers. On the Friday, he, Doug and Carol even had a surfing lesson for the hell of it while the twins played games in a kids beach club. Carol managed to beat both Doug and Skid by staying upright for a good thirty seconds before wobbling over and falling onto Doug who had just made it to the standing postition. They ate out for dinner, and despite trying a variety of different restaurants, Kate always ordered chicken and fries wherever she went. Doug told her that someday she'd turn into a chicken if she wasn't careful, to which she started clucking and flapping and it took some time to get her to sit down and eat her meal.   
  
They ended their break on the Sunday afternoon when they got into the estate car that Doug had bought in part exhcange for his Jeep - between them, they had also bought a smaller car to travel to work in. The journey back, though much shorter than the trip from Nebraska to Seattle, felt almost as long to Skid, who had made the unwise decision to sit between the two children (both of whom consumed a large amount of sugar on the journey). It wasn't that he didn't love them to bits. It was just that sometimes he needed to be in a place where his knees weren't wedged under his chin and he didn't have to keep passing Barbie dolls back and forth. Around the halfway point of the trip, Carol detected a certain discomfort in the back seat and rummaged in a bag until she found what she was looking for - two puzzle magazines. Passing them back to Tess and Kate, she smiled at Skid.  
"This should help you out a bit. Here you go, girls. Skid, how about we stop at the next rest-stop and swap places?"  
Going against his judgement to be polite and stay where he was, he blurted, "Is that okay?"  
Doug laughed behind the steering wheel, taking a glance into the backseat through the rearview mirror.   
"It's no problem. I'm shorter than you anyway so it won't be too bad."  
"Thanks. It's just, well, I think my legs might fall off soon if I'm, not careful. I don't think there's any blood reaching them anymore..."  
They all laughed again. Within five minutes, things had quietened down again and Doug had pulled into a rest-stop for a brief game of musical chairs. Skid unfolded himself and got into the passenger seat, stretching his legs out comfortably as Carol hit her head on the roof of the car climbing into the rear seat. Skid heard the thump of head on ceiling and tried not to laugh. Once settled - "Mommyyyy! You're squishing me!" - they set off again, until finally at about 10pm they pulled up outside the house. Tess and Kate were dozing in the backseat, so while Doug and Carol carried them inside, Skid unpacked the two suitcases from the trunk and his own backpack. Closing the car up, he went inside with the cases and put them down in the hall before crashing out onto the couch. He was almost asleep when he felt Carol leaning over him.  
"Skid...c'mon." She stood him up, passing him his backpack and steered him in the direction of the stairs.  
"Go to bed. Sleep well."  
"Thanks. You too." He made it up the stairs and into his room. Not concerned about changing, he took off the sweat pants he was wearing and fell into the bed. He considered those past few days as some of the best he'd ever had, but they had been exhausting. Refusing to think any more, his brain switched off and Skid fell asleep.  
  
By the following afternoon, after a brief but nice lie-in in the morning, Skid was ready to take on the responsibility of looking after the twins until Doug finished his shift at 7pm. After a short discussion, it had been agreed that Skid would take Kate and Tess out to buy some small bits and pieces to go in their new treehouse and they'd get McDonalds for dinner while they were there. Before she left, Carol wrote out a page of telephone numbers, pager numbers, cell phone numbers, and even the code to the burglar alarm in case they had difficulty with that. When she pointed it out to Skid and noticed his eyebrows rise, she said, "It's not that I don't trust you. But I don't leave them alone with anyone very often. You can understand that?"  
"Sure. Did you want to add the combination number for your bike lock too?"   
"Oh ha ha!" she said, and tapped his arm.  
"Don't worry about a thing. We'll be fine."  
"Thanks, Skid."  
She left, kissing Tess goodbye and yelling at Kate that she was going. Kate yelled "Bye!" from upstairs, where she was looking at a catalogue of children's toys and games. Skid closed the door behind her and turned back to Tess, who was waving from the window.  
"You want to show me how to play that game now?"  
  
Doug returned home that evening to a scene of contentment. The three siblings sat ni the lounge in front of a video of 'The Lion King'. Two Happy Meal toys perched on the arm of a chair. Kate was lying on the floor, with a brightly coloured rug over her as she watched the screen, and Tess sat in one of two small plastic chairs. Skid sat in an armchair, screwing together a wooden table that went with the chairs, with one eye on the TV. A new beanbag sat nearby as well, and on it some crayoned drawings.   
"You guys had a good day I see!"  
From their various positions, they all nodded. Tess got up and greeted Doug, taking his hand and showing him all their new purchases. Skid finished putting the table together and set it upright.  
"There ya go. All ready for tomorrow."  
"What's tomorrow?" asked Doug, looking at the table.  
"We're having a treehouse party!" Kate got to her feet.  
"Yeah, an opening-the-treehouse party!" Tess chimed in.  
"Oh you are, are you? Well, don't I get an invitation?"  
"Daddy, you're not going to be here because you're at the hospital tomorrow."  
"And the party's in the afternoon."  
"Ahh, damn! You think we can have another one sometime for me and your mom?"  
"Yeah!"  
"Two parties!"  
"Alright. How was your day, Skid?! They didn't give you too much trouble did they?"  
"Naah, they were fine. No problem at all. You have a good day?"  
This experience of greeting his father after a day at work was new, Skid realised. But if it was new, why did it feel so normal?  
"Yeah, you know. Sick kids suck! I'm going to change, then it's bathtime for you two, okay?"  
"Okay!" Tess said happily, at the same time that Kate said, "Nooooo!"  
  
  
The next three days were filled with much the same routine. Either Doug or Carol would be at home in the mornings, in a cleverly engineered timetable that meant Skid could sleep in, shower and have a few hours to himself out of the day. He told them that he didn't mind watching them all day, but as they kept pointing out to each other, this was meant to be his holiday too. And there weren't many teenage boys willing to sacrifice most of their time to watching their little sisters. In the afternoons, Skid, Tess and Kate would add more finishing touches (to which there seemed to be no end) to the treehouse, or play simple board games, or take short trips to the playground at the end of the road. Whenever Doug or Carol returned home, the three of them could be found in front of a Disney video, or quietly drawing with Skid maybe demonstrating how to make a paper airplane. That was how both Doug and Carol found the twins and Skid on Thursday night when they unexpectedly arrived home together and entered the house only to be hit by several hundred paper airplanes. Spotting writing on them, Carol bent down and picked up one while Doug chased around the room after the two screaming children. The plane had obviously been made by Skid as it eve had ailerons, but it had been decorated by Tess who had written in very wobbly print, "Welcome home Mommy and Daddy I love you". Still holding the piece of intricately folded paper, she looked up to see Doug holding Skid under one arm, yelling that Skid was his hostage and that the girls had to give him a kiss hello before Skid could go free. Smiling, she put the paper plane into her pocket to be stored at a later date, and went to join in the fun.  
  
Once they had all settled down and picked up all the planes, Tess announced that she would only get in the bath if her parents saw their treehouse first. They had spent a large portion of the day drawing picture that Skid had nailed onto the walls for them in between painting the outside with a woodstain, and they were very proud of it. Looking out of a window at the increasingly grim sky, Doug said, "It looks like it's going to storm, Tess. I'm not sure we should be up in a tree when the storm breaks."  
"Pleeeeeaaase? We'll be quick!"  
Doug looked at Carol, who shrugged. "Okay. But no more than five minutes. And if I feel a drop of rain, we're coming back indoors."  
"Okay!"   
They trooped outside. Skid glanced up and then to the horizon over the lake, where the storm clouds were tall and black and moving fast. Looked like it was going to be a big one. He loved storms but right now he hoped it held out long enough for him to pull a tarpaulin over the treehouse.  
"Hey, this is really excellent! Skid, you've done a great job!" Carol called down from the 'doorway'.   
"I did a good job to, Mommy, look!"  
"Yeah, they're really lovely drawings!"  
Standing on the rope ladder, Doug peered in too and called back down, "Yeah, good job. This is the business!"  
"Thanks. I'm not sure how many people it can hold though, so don't go up just yet Doug."  
"Okay."  
Doug and Carol swapped so that he could get a look, before a roll of thunder bounced off the slopes further down the river and ended the housewarming. No rain fell, but the warning was enough. Kate climbed down the rope ladder backwards, Carol reaching out beside her in case she slipped. Doug picked Tess up and descended holding her with one arm and the ladder with another, and they all made for the house with Kate running on ahead with her hands over her ears.  
"She's not fond of storms?" Skid asked Doug, who still held Tess.  
"Nope. And she's a screamer, so let's all hope it doesn't go on too late tonight." He grinned lopsidedly.  
"Oh boy."   
  
When the storm finally broke with a loud thunderclap that seemed to hit them directly, Skid presumed the screams downstairs came from Kate. But just as the rain really started to pound on the roof, his bedroom door squeaked open and Tess' head popped round, wide-eyed.  
"Hey Tess. You want to come in?"  
She nodded, and came up to the bed where Skid sat, looking out of the window at the rain. She was wearing her pajamas and holding a half-eaten cookie.  
"Here." He lifted her up and put her down on the bed by the window.  
"You scared of thunderstorms too?"  
She nodded again. "It's loud and scary." A bolt of lightening lit the room from outside and she flinched, trying not to jump.  
"I love thunderstorms. Cm'ere. He pulled her in front of him so she sat right by the window. Leaning over her shoulder, he pointed up at the sky. "Next time you see lightening, start counting like this: one elephant, two elephant, three elephant. The more elephants you count, then the further away the storm is from here."  
They sat for a while in silence, watching and waiting. A bolt of electric blue light ricocheted through a dark cloud suddenly, sending Tess backwards with surprise into Skid. He caught her against his chest and held her there, starting the count. "One elephant, two..." She joined in on the third, and counted until six when they heard the thunder booming and Tess put her hands over her ears.  
  
The thunder and lightening faded after half an hour, although the rain continued to pummel the surrounding area. When Doug came looking for Tess to put her to bed, he found her asleep against Skid, who was still watching the aftermath through his window.   
"Hey," he whispered. "She okay?"  
"Yeah," Skid whispered back. "She's asleep. Is Kate okay?"  
"Yup, we put the hi-fi headphones on her until it died down. She was singing Sesame Street songs real loud. It was worse than the thunder."  
Skid smiled. Doug went to the bed and scooped Tess up. "I didn't thin she was that bothered by storms. She gets overshadowed by her sister sometimes."  
"Yeah. I hope she feels a bit better about them now. I love watching them myself."  
"Yeah. Okay, well I'm going to put her to bed. You staying here?"  
"Just for a little while longer."  
"Okay. Thanks, Skid."  
He left the room with the sleeping child. Skid got up off the bed and dragged his backpack out from underneath the bed. Digging down to the bottom of it, he located his camera and pulled it out. Opening the window careful, he leaned out a little way and waited for a streak of lightening in the distance before snapping the shutter. He now had four shots left for the rest of his time there. Most of the pictures were taken at the beach, but he wanted at least one good one of Doug, Carol and the twins before he left. By the treehouse maybe. As he closed the window back up again, he heard the door open downstairs. Who was going out in this? He hoped the tarapaulin hadn't blown away. He left his room and went to the top of the stairs to see if he could see what was going on, but the view was blocked by Carol standing in the doorway with Doug behind her. There was someone at the door. He started down the stairs as Doug turned to look up at him, obviously about to call him.  
"Skid - "  
As he reached the hallway floor, he looked out of the door from behind Carol, and saw who it was. Rob. And he was really messed up.  
"Shit," he whispered under his breath and pushed past Carol gently, apologising. "I got it. Thanks, " he said to Doug, who nodded and held Carol's shoulder, moving her away from the door.  
  
----------------------  



	4. Running From An Angel, Part Four

Running From An Angel,

**Running From An Angel, Part Four (see Part One for info)**

----------------------  
  
"Rob?"  
His friend was leaning against the doorframe, mumbling incoherently. He looked up at Skid's face.  
"Skid! Skid, I'm in shit, I'm so fucked. You know...you...where did you go? You were at home, and now you're here. You hit me. Why did you hit me? You're the only friend I got..." He was getting mad. Sensing an impending scene, Skid reached behind him and pulled the door closed, pushing Rob back further on the porch.  
"What are you doing here, Rob?"  
"I came...to find you. Stop changing subject, I said you hit me. You're not meant to hit me. You're meant to be my friend. Ohhhh, Skid."  
"What?" Despite his pity for his friend, Skid was angry. Really angry. His drunk, stupid, fucked-up friend had just turned up on the doorstep of this family home, this protected little world. He had no right to be there.  
"Uhhh. My report card came through, Skid. I am soooo fucked. I can't...I got, like, D's, an' F's and shit and I'not gonna go to college..."  
"Look man, what did you expect?" Skid tried to move Rob further back, away from the windows through which Rob's language could be heard loud and clear. As he put an arm out to move him, Rob swung his arm in a loose attack for this trespass on his personal space and smacked Skid around the head. Loosing all control, Skid grabbed Rob by the collar of his soaked jacket and wrestled with him, dodging thw wildly swinging punches that kept coming his way. They fell to the ground in a tussle and dropped off the edge of the porch onto the wet grass, the rain still falling in massive droplets onto their adrenaline-fuelled bodies. Getting himself up off the ground, Skid gave an almighty heave and pulled Rob up too, bring him face to face before he felt a heavy punch land in his stomach, winding him. He bent over slightly, grabbing Rob around teh waist to prevent him doing any more damage until he recovered and they went round in a circle of flailing limbs, the rain pouring from the heavens as they did. As Skid moved and grabbed the back of Rob's neck, bending him over to land a punch, he felt his grip on his prey loosen and slip away as a force between their two bodies split them apart. Straightening up with some difficulty and breathing hard, he saw Doug standing in the rain, looking wildly back and forth between him and Rob. Rob was staggering a little opposite Skid, also breathing hard and clutching one side.   
"I don't know what this is about guys but if you're going to fight, don't do it here."  
Skid dropped his head, bending over and resting his hands on his knees out of both embarrassment and the need for air. Rob swayed a little more, giving Skid a straight look before bending down shakily and sitting on the wet grass.  
"You okay now?" Doug asked, more in reference to whether he could leave them than to whether they were feeling good.  
"Yeah. Sorry Doug."  
"That's okay."  
He went back inside. The two of them stayed in their positions for what felt like an eternity, until Rob's head dropped and he mumbled something. Skid didn't say anything but kept his view fixed on the blade of grass below him that dripped regularly once every three seconds. It wasn't until he could feel Rob's eyes looking at him that he looked up too.  
"What am I doing here, Skid?" The fighting and adrenaline seemed to have worn away the effects of the alcohol on Rob and his eyes, although slightly glazed, were bright and piercing but showed a strange despair that Skid wasn't sure he'd ever seen before.  
"I don't know, Rob."  
"I got my report card. I hid it, it's in my room in an old shoe box so my parents won't find it. No college in their right mind is going to accept me."  
"Sorry."  
"Not your fault. It's just..." he picked up a pebble and threw it down again, repeating this several times before picking it up and lobbing it down the lawn as far as he could, at the same time as saying "...I don't give a fuck any more."   
"Why not? I don't understand you. You have so much to play for and you're throwing it all away."  
Rob stayed silent, but the light of the moon reflected off his jawline and it was clenched hard. He had found a bgger pebble and was picking it up, holding it, then throwing it into the ground harder and harder.  
"You know what, Skid? You just don't get it at all. You think that just because I never read her books, or took her to the zoo, or built her a crappy treehouse," he looked towards the wooden structure on his left, clearly visable in the dim light, "you think that because I didn't show it, I didn't love her and that I didn't care. But you're wrong, you are SO wrong. You're the one that's fucked, buddy. You couldn't be more wrong and you don't even KNOW IT." Taking the stone, he threw it even further down the lawn this time, his long arm flicking the pebble out of his hand and through the air at the speed of a pro pitcher.  
Skid sat, confused, but not wanting to make Rob anymore irate.  
"You think I didn't know you loved your sister?" He said it quietly.  
The stony silence from opposite him only confirmed what he said. The silence broke as Rob stared downwards, semi-consciously ripping up grassblades by the handful next to him.  
"I DID love her. And I didn't want her to die. I'm crap at showing what I feel and now...I don't know that she ever thought I loved her."  
Those few words almost made an audible click in Skid's head as he finally understood what had been the cause of his friend's behaviour for the past few months. Rob thought that Becka believed he didn't love her. And now she was gone, he could never tell her or show her.   
What he looked up at Rob, whose face still pointed down. But he was certain that what he had just seen fall from his best friend's face was not just rainwater.   
  
Skid stood up slowly, ignoring the protests from his ribcage and shoulder. Looking towards the house, he turned back to Rob.  
"C'mon." He tipped his head in the direction of the house and started walking back. A few seconds later, he heard Rob get up behind and follow him. They walked into the house, dripping on the laminated hall floor until Carol passed them the rugs that hung from the back of the couch. In silence, she went out of the room, before returning a few moments later with some dressings. She put one against Rob's right cheekbone, where a bright gash had seperated the skin, and the other to Skid's jaw where Rob had clipped him with a ring. They took the dressings and held them in place, still silent. Carol left again, busying herself in the kitchen, unsure what else to do in such a situation. Some minutes later, she heard Doug come down the stairs and join the two boys in the lounge. Sticking her head around the doorframe to see what was going on, she heard Doug's voice talking quietly and saw him check the dressings.  
"You can stay here for the night - Skid you got a pull-out mattress under you bed, if you can share a room."  
"We can. Thanks Doug."  
Doug nodded, not wanting to pry in whatever had just happened.  
All three of them stood up and Skid and Rob went up the stairs, Doug heading towards the kitchen to talk to Carol.  
"What happened?"  
"I don't know. But I don't they're going to fight again tonight."  
  
The next morning, having sacrificed his bed to Rob and slept on the pull-out mattress himself, Skid awoke slightly earlier than normal and went down for breakfast in a t-shirt and boxers. In a more sobre mood than normal, he poured some fruit loops into a bowl and sat down at the table. Doug watched, and sat down opposite him, shooing Kate away gently when she pleaded for the tenth time to put the TV on.  
"You okay?"  
"Yeah."  
"And Rob?"  
"He's still asleep."  
Doug nodded and pointed to the fruit loops. "They're gonna get soggy if you don't eat them."  
"Yeah..." Skid swirled his spoon around in the bowl, not particularly hungry.  
"So you gonna tell me what all that was about last night?"  
Skid stayed silent. Did he really want to tell Doug all that stuff? He felt bad talking about his friend while he was in the same house, but even worse he was still humiliated that his friend had turned up drunk. It wasn't the way to go about making a good impression.  
"C'mon. You don't strike me as the sort of guy who just flies of the handle at anything."  
Skid sighed. He decided to let it fly. "I went to move him off the porch, and he took it the wrong way and flew at me. I was angry that he showed up so I hit him back...after you came out and stopped us, we talked a bit and I think...well, Rob's afraid that his sister didn't know he loved her."  
Doug's eyebrows raised. Before he could say anything, they heard the sound of footsteps on the landing and Rob came down the stairs. Looking around a little wildly to figure out where he was and holding his head with one hand, he saw Skid and Doug and went to join them.  
"Morning."  
"Mornin'"   
"Want an asprin? I'm Doug, by the way."  
"An asprin would be great, thanks. I'm Rob. I guess I've got to apologise for pitching up here last night like that, sorry."  
"Okay. Here." Doug passed him a glass of water with two asprin. Rob put them in his mouth and washed them down with the water. He turned back to Doug, a more earnest expression on his face now the sleep had been wiped away.  
"Really, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you or anything. You were great to let me stay here last night, I'm going home today - you can just pretend it never happened."  
Skid played with his cereal some more, it was started to decompose in the milk now. Doug, standing by the worktop, dropped his head to one side.  
"Actually, it looks like you guys have to sort some things out between yourselves. If you don't mind the sleeping arrangements, you're welcome to stay longer." Skid looked at Doug, questioningly. Doug replied before he could even say anything. "I talked to Carol this morning, and she agrees as long as there are no repeats of last night, okay? Skid could probably do with some company of his own age anyway, suprised he's lasted this long with those two..." He looked over his shoulder at the twins, who seemed to be arguing about who got to sit on the beanbag.  
"You know I don't mind them. But it would be cool if you could stay, Rob."  
"Yeah. It's real nice up here. I'm not sure my parents are going to be delighted to see me right now anyway."  
"Do they know where you are?"  
"Not exactly...no."  
"I think you should call them. Just let them know you're okay. I'm not going to pretend I know the situation, but I'm pretty sure they'll be worried about you."  
Rob shrugged.  
"Go on, Rob. You know your mom, she'll be out of her mind now. They won't be mad if you just call - how long have you been gone anyway?"  
"I don't know...I went out the day the report card came in...did some drinking...I guess you knew that. That was maybe three, four days ago?"  
"Here." Doug handed him the telephone. Gesturing to Skid, he beckoned him away from Rob so he could have a little privacy and went with his son to the den where Tess and Kate were sharing the beanbag noisily and playing some sort of game with three dolls and a giant stuffed giraffe.   
"Girls? Skid's got a friend over today, so you two are going to have to go to nursery for the afternoo..."  
"No, Doug. Don't put them in the nursery, we can look after them fine. Please?"  
Skid's words were echoed by the twins, who wanted to stay at home.  
"Alright, alright. But you have to behave youselves," he was interrupted with "Yay!" and "We ALWAYS behave ourselves!", before continuing, "and if Skid and Rob want some time to themselves, you have to let them." He turned to Skid, "Just make sure they're in your sight, especially if you're outside, okay? Okay."  
Skid nodded, and picked Kate up, who was about to scale his leg if he didn't.   
"Can we go to the playground today?"  
"Yeah, I don't see why not..."  
"How about we go now, kiddo? All five of us!"  
"Four, Daddy, Mommy's at work."  
"Yeah, but we can get Rob to come. That makes five - you, me, Tess, Skid and Rob. See?"  
"Oh yeah. Okay! Can I go on my bike?"  
"I wanna go on my bike too!"  
"Yes, you can go on your bikes. I'll go and get them out..."  
"I'll go get dressed. I think Rob's gone into the shower, but I'll go tell him we're leaving soon."  
"Okay."  
  
Half an hour later, the troop left the house and headed towards the small playground at the end of the road. There weren't a great amount of facilities, but it was enough to keep Tess and Kate happy - all they needed was a couple of swings and a jungle gym. There was a roundabout too, but apparently Tess had thrown up once after being on it, and now they both kept away. They had raced away on their stabilised bikes as son as they had left the driveway, with Doug behind them at a safe distance. Skid and Rob walked behind him silently.  
"Your dad's a pretty cool guy."  
"You think?"  
"Yeah. He didn't throw me out last night, did he? And he didn't tell me to get lost when I showed up. That's what my dad would have done."  
"I guess. He understands a lot of stuff, y'know? That's cool."  
"Yeah. Cute sisters you got too. What are their names again?"  
"Kate, and Tess. Kate's the louder one, in the red cap. Tess is quieter, she's wearing the blue sneakers."  
"They always dress differently?"  
"Dunno. They have done while I've been here, Carol says it's so I can tell them apart, and so she can too sometimes!"  
"'k. You had a good time here then?"  
"Yeah. I have."  
"When you going home?"  
"Sunday morning. You know, you might as well stay till then and we can travel back together."  
"Can't do that, I got my car too."  
"Travel in convoy then. Bet I can beat you down the Interstate, your car has jackshit injection."  
"Yeah, right, check out your great big heavy truck! My injection's shot but my maximum speed must be way above yours."  
"Don't bet on that, buster."  
They had reached the playground and Rob helped Doug pick up the discarded bikes and prop them up against the fence that protected the park from unwanted intruders. In the meantime, Skid obligingly went to push Tess on the swings, while Kate seemingly ran right up the jungle gym and hung upside down from the monkey bars. From her position, she still managed to notice that Tess was on the swings having a great time and after calling to Doug to help her get down, she made a beeline to where Skid and Tess were.  
"Me too, push me too, Skid!"  
"I can't push you both at once. Wait a moment..."  
But Kate had had a better idea. "No, here, you sit down on the swing and I'll push you!"  
"I'm not sure that'll work, Kate..."  
"Yes it will! Please?"  
Grudgingly he sat down on the swing, his legs alomost folded double. "Okay Kate, give it your best shot!"  
He felt small hands on his back, and he lifted his feet as far off the ground as possible so that he might move. Indeed, he did move. But only about five centimeters. Tess saw what was going on and joined Kate, giggling as they tried to push their brother, who was at least double the height of them, high into the air. From his place about a meter abpve the ground, Skid called to Rob.  
"Hey! Get over here! You gotta join in too, 'cause I don't want you going home and telling everyone!"  
For the first time in four months, Rob smiled his old smile and got up slowly from his seat on a bench. Doug watched him go from the jungle gym that he was leaning against. What a stroke of luck he happened to have Skid's camera in his pocket. As both of the boys reached a maximum height on the swings, with Tess and Kate behind them, Doug pulled out the camera, shouting "Say cheese!" and took a snapshot. The howls of horror were probably heard for miles around.  
  
After Doug left for work that afternoon, the two boys and two girls decided they would make a meal for Carol when she arrived home. Surprisingly, it was Rob's idea initially. Tess disappeared to another room and returned with a heap of cookbooks when Rob suggested the idea, and while Skid tried to talk Kate out of wanting to cook chicken nuggets, Rob had to break it to tess that they couldn't make veal picatta with an asparagus sauce. Eventually settling on lasagne as a good dish, they set about making it. Fortunately there were two recipe books that listed lasagne and so while Rob and Kate worked on making the white sauce and cooking the pasta, Skid helped Tess create a rich bolognaise. They managed to pile it all up in layers into one giant dish just before they heard the key turn in the door lock, and Skid shoved it into the oven as the girls made a dash for the door, vying over who got to tell first.   
  
The meal was a huge success. Carol had been expecting to see the kitchen covered with tomatoes, bits of minced meat, flour and broken pasta, but was pleasantly surprised when all she encountered was a spilt tin of plum tomatoes. They had made enough for them all, plus an extra portion that could be microwaved when Doug got home later. Halfway through the meal, Kate remembered she didn't like mushroom very much and spent a lot of time picking them out, while Tess ate them from the side of her plate. After dinner, Carol took the twins to the bath while Rob and Skid watched 'The Simpsons'. As the girls came back down the stairs half an hour later, Doug arrived home, and after some bargaining they agreed that Tess and Kate were allowed to stay up twenty minutes later than normal so that they could all play Candy Land together. They were about halfway through the game, with Doug winning but being chased by Tess, when Skid went to get the dice from under Rob's knee and noticed his head was bowed. Before he could figure out what was wrong, or even ask if he was okay, Doug tapped Rob's elbow and stood him up.  
"C'mon, buddy."   
They moved out of the room, and Skid looked at Carol, who seemed just about as mystifaed as he felt. He knew Rob was upset but nothing had happened. He wasn't even losing the game - he was ahead of both Skid and Carol. Fighting the desperate urge to go and find him, he rolled the dice as Kate watched.  
"What's wrong with Rob?"  
"I don't know, Tess."  
"Did he do something bad?"  
"No, honey," Carol said, passing the dice on, "I think he's just sad."  
"Why?"  
Choosing not to answer this directly, Carol said, "Maybe he's just not feeling very well. Come on, it's your turn."   
  
Bedtime came for the twins, and still there was no sign of Doug or Rob. Carol took them to bed, promising to send Doug to see them when he came back. She went into the kitchen when she came downstairs again, calling out to Skid,   
"You want a beer?"  
"I'd love one, thanks."  
Coming back to the den with two bottles of Michelob, she passed one to him and sat down.  
"Where do you think they are?"  
"I don't know, Skid."  
"How come Doug took him out?"  
"He'll talk to him, find out what's wrong. Don't look so worried, that's what Doug does. It's part of his job, and he's very good at it. Rob'll be fine."  
"I thought Doug was a doctor?"  
"He is. But patient care is a big part of being a doctor. I think Doug's aim is to be like a big brother to every patient he sees sometimes."  
"Really?"  
"Yeah. Sometimes he cares too much. But I'm glad he does."  
"Me too. He said he left Chicago because he cared about a patient too much...I kinda thought, well, I thought maybe he'd had an affair with a patient or something. I know you're not meant to do that..."  
Carol laughed. "Nope. He's a paediatrician. It's complicated, but he was resposible for a lethal dose of pain killer being given to a very sick little boy that wanted to die. He resigned before he could be fired."  
"Wow. Isn't that illegal, euthanasia?"  
"Yeah, it is. But because he didn't issue the dose himself and because he wasn't fired, he was allowed to keep his license to practise medicine. He can't work in an emergency room again though."  
"So he work's on a children's ward instead?"  
"Yup. It's a specialist children's hospital, and he works on a couple of the wards there."  
"But you work in a different place?"  
"Yeah, at a state hospital in the Intensive Care Unit. It's a lot like the ER but the hours aren't so long, which means I can have more time with Tess and Kate."  
Skid nodded, and looked out of the window, trying to see if there was anyone out there. Instead, the front door opened behind them and Rob came in, followed by Doug.   
"You both okay?" Carol got there before Skid.  
"Yeah, we're okay." Doug said, looking at Rob, who nodded.  
"I'm going to take a shower if that's okay."  
"No problem, you know where it is right? There's a clean towel on the rail."  
"Yeah, thanks." He disappeared upstairs, and Doug ambled over and sat down on the couch next to Skid.  
"Is he really okay? Where did you guys go?"  
"He's not great but he's going to be fine. We just went out for a walk for a while. You know, you weren't far off the mark with your guess." He rubbed the back of Skid's head, then turned to Carol.  
"Got another beer left?"  
"Yup, in the fridge."  
He helped himself and returned, also with his plate of re-heated lasagne.  
"What is this exactly?"  
"It's lasagne, Tees, Kate me and Rob cooked it this afternoon."  
"And the kitchen's still intact?!"  
"Yup, wouldn't you know it!"  
"Hey!" Skid said, pretending to be hurt, but failing.   
  
On Sunday morning, Skid stood at the front of the house and ordered Doug, Carol, Kate and Tess to stand in a nice position by the treehouse. Using up his final exposure, he took a shot of the four of them, with the lake in the background. Rob sat in his own car, with the seat next to him filled with snacks, crayoned pictures, and a spare T shirt. Finished taking his photo, Skid went to say goodbye properly. He hugged each of the girls, promised he'd come back and visit again soon, and told them to take care. Carol hugged him too and said he had been great and was welcome back any time. Finally, he turned to Doug, hand outstretched for a handshake. Clasping hands, they grinned.  
"Aw, what the hell, c'mere," Doug said and bear-hugged his son. "Keep writing, okay? I know I'm not good at writing back very quickly, but I always read them."  
"I know you do. Thanks Doug."  
Waving, he walked to his truck and got in, nodding at Rob that they were off. As they drove down the road, with Rob in the lead, Skid saw his new family waving until he turned the corner and they slipped out of his view. As they drove further away, Skid was glad that Rob had his own car with him. Right now he wanted to be by himself.  
  
It was late the next evening when he finally pulled into his own driveway at home. His mom was waiting on the doorstep, holding a dishcloth in one hand as if she'd been pretending to do something else other than waiting for him to return home. She came down the steps slowly when he pulled in, and tentitvely walked to the truck. Skid jumped out and walked to meet her halfway. They stopped, facing each other in the dusk.  
"You had a good time?"  
"Yeah." He smiled back at her.  
"The journey okay?"  
"Yup."  
"What was Seattle like?"  
"Cool."  
"And the twins?"  
"Mom. They're great. They're all really nice and I love them all. But they're not you." He smiled some more and Angel's face cracked into a grin of her own as she stretched up and hugged her son to within an inch of his life.

-------------------

"Sometimes I wait forever  
To stand out in the rain  
So no one sees me cryin'  
Trying to wash away the pain"


End file.
